AVS 54th International Symposium
    Biomaterial Interfaces Thursday Sessions
       Session BI-ThM

Paper BI-ThM3
Supported Lipid Structures as Model Systems for Membrane Associated Interactions

Thursday, October 18, 2007, 8:40 am, Room 609

Session: Biomimetic Phospholipid Interfaces
Presenter: A. Kunze, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Authors: S. Svedhem, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
A. Kunze, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
E. Briand, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
A. Wikström, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
B. Seantier, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
P. Axelsson, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
H. Ekstrand, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
M. Edvarsson, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
S. Petronis, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
M. Zaech, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
B. Kasemo, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Correspondent: Click to Email

Engineering of surface-supported lipid membrane model systems is currently a very active field of research. The present contribution will present a number of recent examples in this area from our group, including both different kinds of supported lipid structures; supported lipid bilayers and vesicles, tethered vesicles, and hole-spanning membranes; as well as different kinds of biomolecular interactions associated with them. The main techniques used to follow these processes are the quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D), surface plasmon resonance (SPR), optical reflectometry, fluorescence microscopy, and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Some new findings about the factors influencing how lipid bilayers or monolayers of intact vesicles are formed on SiO2 surfaces, e.g. with respect to cations present in the buffer, will be presented. We will also describe new results about processes on the suported lipid structures. In particular, the action of different kinds of lipases (via hydrolysis of phospholipids) on supported lipid bilayers has been monitored by different techniques, as well as the effect of lipases on tethered vesicles (including PEG-ylated vesicles of relevance for drug delivery applications). Another example that will be covered is the exchange of lipid material between charged supported lipid membranes and vesicles; potentially a method for the in situ modification of supported membranes.